This invention relates to a new composition of matter and a method for making and using the same. More particularly, the invention relates to a new composition for treating fabric to impart desired properties thereto and to a method for making and using the same.
For many years, it has been known to add various types of adjuvants to detergents and wash cycle additives. It is also known to add adjuvants to dryers. In general, however, the adjuvants added to the wash or rinse cycles have the objective of removing soil from the fabric. However, the presence of detergents and the like in the washing machine makes it difficult to concurrently apply adjuvants which are to be present on the fabric after washing and drying. Consequently, events led to the development of adjuvants for use in dryers. In general, such adjuvants are supplied in the form of sprays or liquid coating agents and it is most difficult when using such materials in dyers to obtain substantially even distribution of the adjuvant on the fabrics. Furthermore, chemical sprays and liquid compositions have the additional drawback in that they generally contain constituents which leave an undesirable residue in the dryer and/or on the fabric. This occurs essentially from the fact that the carrier component of the composition has to be predominant and, therefore, generally constitutes a major proportion of the composition.
Recently, a product has been developed using a flexible fabric substrate on which an adjuvant, such as a fabric softener, has been applied. This product is disadvantageous in that the fabric substrate remains in the dryer and must be removed from amongst the clothes after the drying cycle. More critical, however, is the fact that the fabric substrate tends to cling and become enmeshed with the clothes and does not provide a uniformly complete distribution of the adjuvant.
Still further, common adjuvants for use in dryers have only included softners and antistatic agents. The color enhancers, color brighteners, fresheners, atmosphere scents and the like have not been employed in dryers to apply them to clothes in dryers primarily because of the lack of a suitable vehicle to accomplish this.
There exists, therefore, a need for providing compositions which can be employed in clothes dryers but which do not exhibit the disadvantages mentioned above.
It is an object of this invention to provide a composition of matter for treating clothes and to impart to the clothes any of a selected group of desired properties, such as softness, anti-static properties, scents or perfumes and brightening characteristics and the like.
It is another object of the invention to provide a solid, fabric or clothes treating composition which is simply and easily formed and which totally disintegrates in the dryer, leaving no residue, remainder, substrate and the like.
These objects, as well as others, together with the numerous advantages thereof are set forth in the following disclosure of the present invention.